The last word any Golfer wants to say on the golf course is four letters long and starts with an “F” … as in “FORE!”
Because this most likely means you hit a bad shot towards another Golfer.
Listen, there is nothing to be embarrassed about when hitting these shots … we all hit them. I’ve seen PGA and LPGA Tour Players yell “FORE” because of a wayward shot. It really does happen to us all.
What causes these awful shots?
There are many things that can happen in your swing to influence bad shots … but only one actually causes these extremely crooked shots — your club face. The face of your club is either pointing extremely to the right or to the left as it makes impact with the golf ball.
And yes, the more skilled a Golfer — the less this will happen. So what’s the skill that is necessary to avoid these shots?
It’s understanding how to control your hands in your golf swing so that they neither outrace your body or lag behind your body as your club moves into impact. You will hit your most consistent shots when you’re able to have your hands and body meet at impact at the same time.
When they aren’t close to getting to impact together? “Fore!” When they meet at impact? “That swing felt great!”
Now, the best Players in the world will not always have their body and hands meet perfectly at the golf ball. They actually accomplish this less than you may think. However, while they don’t always align perfectly at impact … they are pretty close on most of their shots.
The closer you’re able to get your hands and body to meet — the better the shot you hit. So the question you need to ask yourself is “why haven’t I been working on impact?”
Another way of showcasing this is — a 2 handicap will be closer to having their hands and body align at impact more often than a 12 handicap. And a 12 will be closer more often than a 20. Etc., etc. The one skill the lower handicaps are much better at than the higher handicaps is their ability to move into a solid impact position with their hands and body.
Yes, the higher handicap will get to a perfect impact from time to time, but not as much as they would like. Which means after your bad shots … your brain now has to start working hard to make adjustments (in the middle of your swing) to try to hit a better shot. Or in other words — you’re constantly adding compensations to your swing for not getting into a good impact.
And remember … compensations equal inconsistency.
Yet, if impact is what determines the quality and consistency of your golf shots … why are so many of you fooling around spending all your hours on the range working on swing plane, getting your elbow into the slot, follow-through, and/or whatever else you read in a magazine
If you’re looking to hit the golf ball straighter, farther and more consistent … the top thing you should always be working on should be understanding your impact. Because for you to find the “feel” of what your best impact is — will help you to take your game to the next level of consistency.
And please note, impact isn’t just that you have your weight on your left foot as you hit the golf ball! Because if that’s currently your #1 goal at impact … we really need to talk. It goes way beyond that. You need to practice to feel where your hands and body should be so that you’re in control of the club as you make contact with the golf ball. As opposed to the club being in control of you!
Yet, most people are working on shoulder turn and hip turn and left arm straight on the back swing and blah, blah, blah. And yes, the better you do these things … the better you have the potential to hit great golf shots.
But, and this is a huge “but” … having the greatest shoulder turn in the history of the world isn’t going to get you anything more than you currently have if you can’t consistently get into impact with your hands and body.
Repeat this mantra over and over until it sticks – “Nothing matters more than impact. Nothing matters more than impact. Nothing matters more than impact.”
Build your golf swing off impact. Then, once your impact starts to become consistent … start working on the other things that can help take your swing even higher. Unfortunately, over 9 out of 10 golf lessons are built upon everything else that goes into the swing with little or no work on finding the feel of your impact position.
Go ahead, start saying it now … “Nothing matters more than impact”
The Monkey is working on their swing
The Player is working on impact
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life
